A New Year

I survived my first semester (9 weeks) teaching.  We were supposed to start back tomorrow, but thanks to the weather that has been delayed.  I used my extra day to prep a little more for the week ahead.  I made mason jar salads for lunches this week.  Part of an attempt to 1. eat healthy and 2. actually eat lunch while at work.

The first week of break was of course spent with family celebrating Christmas.  I was excited that I actually got all my handmade Christmas gifts finished (almost) in time.  There were some unexpected setbacks in the form of an awful stomach bug, so my mom's slippers didn't get done.  She's coming to visit soon, though, so she'll still get them.

The second week of break has been spent frantically cleaning and organizing.  I had a lot of ambition for this house, but it was only one week.  I got the bathroom closet done.  Whatever, I'll take what I can get.  It was awful, and now it's better.

I am determined to be more organized this semester so that I don't become overwhelmed, stressed and exhausted.  In order to do that I have set some goals.  I don't want to call them New Year's Resolutions, but I suppose that's what they are:

1. Clean and Organize the house.  This way a clean house will be easier to maintain, and I won't spend my days off digging us out of the piles of crap collected throughout the week.

2. Eat Better.  First, I have to eat, period.  When I get stressed I forget to eat…until 2 am and then I eat junk.  I plan to shop over the weekend and prep Sunday so that healthy grab-and-go food is at my disposal.

3.  Exercise.  I do need to lose weight, I have for awhile, but aside from that I think this would help my stress level.  I know it would.  I struggle to justify the time for exercise, especially when I'm overwhelmed, but I just have to make it happen.  We own an elliptical machine and I've been to enough yoga classes to do something on my own.  I really have no excuses.

4. Craft.  I managed to knit quite a bit this past semester and it really helped.  It's very relaxing, and I want to keep going.

5.  Write.  Everyday for the first year we had Ellie I wrote in a journal.  I have felt guilty every day since her first birthday because I stopped writing, primarily because that summer I took care of her and a friend's little boy, six weeks younger than Ellie.  It was like having twins.  I was exhausted, and the last thing I wanted to do was write.  I never started again.  This year will be different.  I'm going to write as often as I can, maybe even daily, on this blog.  It might be about my day at work, or something hilarious that Ellie did, my latest knitting project, or how I've been craving cheesecake for three days, but I'm resisting because it's bad for me (true story).  Whatever is going on, I'm going to write.  If you're reading, I hope you enjoy.